Gleason: Pen authors 1st disaster of season

Tuesday

Apr 1, 2014 at 2:00 AM

NEW YORK — The Mets carted out the predictable responses to blowing a ninth-inning lead before losing to the Nationals on opening day. One game out of 162. Great start by Dillon Gee. Four runs in six innings off Stephen Strasburg.

KEVIN GLEASON

NEW YORK — The Mets carted out the predictable responses to blowing a ninth-inning lead before losing to the Nationals on opening day. One game out of 162. Great start by Dillon Gee. Four runs in six innings off Stephen Strasburg.

All those things were true, and if you really wanted to dig up rocks, you might find a couple of shiny pebbles on the Citi Field terrain Monday afternoon. But there was something else predictable about the Mets' 9-7 loss in 10 innings. Their questionable bullpen led their questionable roster to an 0-1 record on the season.

And that underscored another inauspicious tally: bullpen 0, opponents 1.

"Not a good day, obviously,'' David Wright said at his locker.

Actually it was a terrible day in that the loss pinpointed the Mets' scariest weakness. The feeling only grew duller when you lose the opener precisely the way most folks expect you to lose a bunch of games this season.

Consecutive four-pitch walks by Carlos Torres and Scott Rice in the seventh, the latter bringing home the tying run, was a fitting precursor to John Lannan allowing Anthony Rendon's three-run homer in the 10th. It ruined Gee's strong start. It ruined the good vibes from Andrew Brown's three-run homer off Strasburg and Juan Lagares' eighth-inning homer to give the Mets a 5-4 lead heading into the ninth. And it certainly overshadowed Wright's two-out, two-run shot in the 10th that made it 9-7.

"You never like to lose on opening day,'' said manager Terry Collins. "But the last few years we've won on opening day. It's one game out of 162, you gotta remember that.''

That's the problem. Mets fans have large storage bins filled with memories of bullpen meltdowns. You can bet many of them left Citi Field while others staggered off recliners wondering how many more agonizing bullpen blowouts will be witnessed. What, Wright asked afterward, do you say to fans who came away from the opener mumbling, "Here we go again.''

"It's just one game,'' Wright answered. "One game. A lot of baseball left, a lot of games left. This isn't going to be an indication of the season.''

Closer Bobby Parnell was one strike from saving the opener when he walked Danny Espinosa in the ninth. Denard Span sent the next pitch into the left-center field gap for an RBI double. Then Jeurys Familia (two-thirds of an inning, two hits) and Lannan put the final frowns on the faces of the faithful in the 10th.

"Scott Rice was outstanding all last year,'' Collins said. "You talk about shock — the biggest shock was Carlos Torres, a strike-throwing machine.''

Collins might have been shocked. But it's hard to imagine many Mets fans feeling especially stunned at the result. They have seen this script far too often, witnessing 18 blown saves last season, and to have it unfold on opening day counts as a cruel joke.

The Mets did some good things with their bats. But they also struck out a whopping 18 times, including eight times in the last four innings. Forget general manager Sandy Alderson's talk of a 90-win season. He deserves neither criticism nor credit for raising the bar on what appears to be no better than an 80-win team.

Alderson deserves a far more biting critique for the shaky bullpen he has assembled once again. By the time the final diehards had disappeared from the stadium following Curtis Granderson's game-ending third strikeout of the day, that pen was 0-1. Zero and one, out of 162.